Are You Missing Something?

I have a love-hate relationship with house projects. Mostly hate. It feels like every time I try to do one thing, I mess another up.

Part of the reason is that I'm terrible at instructions. In all fairness, it's not that I'm terrible as much as it is that I don't read them. This often gets me into trouble.

Take this past weekend for example. Having four kids means we go through our fair share of laundry. So after replacing a second-hand laundry set I installed last year (you might remember that post I did about not putting a zip tie on the drain hose, which resulted in thousands of dollars in water damage), it was time for an upgrade.

This time, I opted for a new set still in the box that I found on Facebook Marketplace. Now, I've never owned a new washer and dryer set before, so I was unaware of some of the common setup "features." One of them being that new dryers don't come with dryer cords (something I find hard to believe in 2026).

But after a quick trip to Fred Meyer, I got it working, and Janan put in a new load just as I took the kids downstairs to watch the new David movie. Could life get any better?

Apparently so, because thirty minutes later, the house sounded like it was about to shake off its foundation as the washer started shaking around violently like it was having a series of convulsions. I ran upstairs to investigate, but couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Figuring it just needed some alone time, I put it on pause and tried it again ten minutes later. Same result. Must be defective, I thought.

But then Janan decided to do a bit of investigative analysis and discovered four bolts on the back of the washer, meant to protect it during shipping. Four bolts with bright yellow labels attached saying "Please remove me before installation." Janan asked if I had seen them.

I had, but I thought this advice was more of a suggestion than a command. But I thought wrong, and after removing them, our sanity was restored.

Who You Are

This little escapade made me think of Paul's words in Ephesians 1. Here, Paul is writing to show those at Ephesus that "in Christ God has reconciled to himself all things by his free grace, and in so doing he has enabled humans all over the world to be reconciled with one another."

However, before getting into the ways the gospel should transform people and their relationships with others, Paul begins with some foundational principles. He writes in verses 3-6:

³ Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. ⁵ He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.

This is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture because it outlines not only how we are to live, but who we were created to be. People who are holy, blameless in love, and as chosen sons and daughters of God.

What Am I Missing?

However, there's a chance this reality hasn't permeated your soul, and you always think, I know I'm missing something.

Life feels a bit broken. To stick with the washer metaphor, maybe a bit wobbly. You're always trying to do a bit more, reach that next level, but you never feel quite at peace.

Maybe you've been a Christian for a while, maybe you're still on the fence.

Regardless of where you're at, I encourage you this week to lean into Paul's word in Ephesians 1 and meditate deeply on what it means to be chosen, adopted, and set apart as a holy child of God.

Recently, I've been working with an author who trains high-performing individuals from NHL coaches to top business executives. During our conversation, he said something like, "You know, Ezra, it's funny how many people I know who know all the right things but refuse to act on what they know. They've read all the right books and have so much information, but that information isn't transforming their behavior."

As he spoke, my mind drifted to Christians. It's never been easier to consume Christian content via podcasts, books, and social media. But all the content in the world won't make a difference if it doesn't change your behavior.

So if you're one of those people who has read Ephesians thirty times before, I challenge you this month to read it slower and think about what you might be missing. Ask yourself the deep questions:

• Do I live with the confidence an adopted child of God should have?
• Am I a holy person—that is, someone who is becoming more and more like Christ? Am I more like Christ today than I was six months ago?
• Is my confidence in God so great that I trust the same one who chose me before the foundation of the world will give me the grace I need to not just get through this week, but thrive in the middle of it?

Let Christ fill what is missing in your life.